Hotel Acardia
by Cat 2
Summary: In the Blistering summer of 1976, 3 friends went missing from an Hotel. When the bodies of two of them were found, it seemed that the third, Mike Eagle, must have killed them. But then Mike's body is found, the team have to find out what really happened
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note: hello everyone. Just wanted to let you know this is my first Cold Case fanfic, be nice, please. Just to forewarn you, some of the songs I've selected may not have been at the exact time of the story events but it's not such a huge distraction that it will cause any strife (there mainly just songs that haven't been released till a few months later). I own nothign, but Nice reviews make me write quicker.**

**Special thanks to my wonderful Beta, greyslostwho, who deserves at least half of the credit, for helping me to get this going. **

* * *

_The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event._

_(December 1963 (what a night) Four Season)_

_11th August 1976_

_It was hot. Barely midday and already over seventy degrees, according to the radio, blaring out old tracks through crackly speakers that had seen better days._

_The house sat baking in the heat. It was a huge white building that looked like a cross between a Roman bathhouse; a Moorish castle and an English country house… a white elephant of a house, unsuitable for anything._

_To Jessica Black, her T-shirt sticking to the seat, it looked creepy, especially with all the windows open, through the wound down windows of the beat up hatchback. Like a haunted house, maybe, the sort she'd seen in movies, that her mother and brother didn't know she'd watched. The giant gaping windows left her thinking of open mouths, as if the house was hungry for something…_

_Matt and Roxanne weren't talking. That didn't surprise Jess at all. They had spent the first two hours of the trip arguing, but since they had picked up Doug and Jodie, they had sat in silence._

_She shifted, trying to ease herself off the brown leather seats of her brother's car and desperately trying to shut Jodie's voice out. Since she'd realised that Matt and Rox weren't talking, she'd more than made up for it._

_"...like I said, you're going to love it here. My parent used to stay here in the sixties. Place was like a hippy commune."  
"Sounds interesting," Roxanne said, politely. "Jess sweetie, can you pass me some water?"  
Jess nodded and retrieved one of the metal water bottles their mother had packed before they left._

_She took the opportunity to look at the two people sitting next to her._

_Jodie Ellen was a dishwater blonde with pale skin. Her nicest feature was probably her eyes, big and grey and pale, surrounded by dark shadows that made her look almost ghostlike. She was pretty, Jess thought, but in a washed up, rag doll kind of way. Doug Adams on the other hand was a hunk. All the girls at school had a crush on him, with his blonde hair and brooding indigo eyes. Not that you could see them at the moment, as he was asleep._

_She straightened up, unscrewing the top off the water bottle. Roxanne was skinny with tiny wrists that meant she always needed help opening bottles and jars._

_"Thanks sweetie." Roxanne said, reaching back and shaking her thick brown curls out of her face, but the car hit a bump, sending the open bottle spinning out of Jess' hands and all over the back seat. Doug jerked awake, as the water hit his grubby jeans and dust stained shirt. Jodie screamed; her peasant blouse and denim miniskirt were soaked._

_Matt swore._

_"Why are there so many blasted potholes?" He demanded of Jodie, running his hand through his uncustomary long black hair, meaning that it hung around his collar, rather than in its customary crew cut. It didn't suit him, and seemed to add to his frustrations._

_Doug, stripping off his shirt effortlessly, in a manner half of Jess' high school class would have died for, answered._

_"The pool's a way out from the hotel. Guess the new owner didn't reckon on anyone taking a car down here."_

_He turned to Jodie, a half smile teasing his lips, "Chill out babe. It'll dry."_

_Roxanne placed her hand on Matt's knee. Everyone is hot and tired, she seemed to say._

_He nodded - the tension still present in his eyes._

_The trees that lined the roads parted to reveal a clear, sparkling pool in the middle of the clearing. Rocks ran along the edge and a blonde haired boy and a girl were making out on top of one of them. They broke apart at the sound of the car. Jess leant across Doug to open the door, eager to escape the blistering car, as the two figures came over._

_Sarah Shalom was tall, with long blonde hair that hung loosely around her shoulders. She was wearing cut off jeans and a blue T shirt. Her face was contorted in the correct expression of sorrow, but she still managed to look beautiful._

_"Matt. I was really sorry to hear about Charlie."_

_Matt nodded, his face grim, as he moved towards the trunk of the car. Mike held out a hand, his hair also long and a dark blonde._

_"Why don't Doug and I take the cases up to the hotel? We know a short cut and it'll give you guys a chance to cool off."  
Roxanne had got out of the car and slipped her fingers around Matt's. "Sounds great. Thanks Mike."_

_Matt made a noise that might or might not be agreement, but he let himself be led off by Roxanne, who was talking to Jodie and Sarah about a diving rock. Jess hurried behind them._

_Mike let out a sigh._

_"Guess I'm still not forgiven then."_

_"You really thought you would be?" Doug asked, grabbing a case._

_Mike shrugged._

_"How was the trip?"_

_"Horrendous." They both paused with the suitcase to take a look at the clearing. Jess had walked or fallen into the water. She loved it, splashing around and getting completely soaked. Matt and Roxanne were calling to her, while trying very hard not to laugh._

_"This week is really what we need." Matt said firmly, almost as if he was trying to convince himself._

_Doug, however, shook himself._

_"Hope you're right." He spoke slowly, shuddering a little, "I think someone just walked over my grave."_

_He shook his head and headed up towards the house._

_

* * *

_

_It's raining, great sheets that drench everything in their path. The sky is black, the ground is grey, the rain is grey – the perfect picture of misery, as their world crumbles around them._

_Jess sits in the back of a police car, wrapped in a blanket._

_Roxanne is in Matt's arms. He holds her to his chest, his face grim, his eyes watching the porch of the inn, as they stand under black umbrellas. Sarah stands apart from them. She's soaked to the skin, but hardly seems to notice._

_The door opens. Jess pulls the blanket up to hide her face; Roxanne buries hers in Matt's chest, he drops his head. Only Sarah remains where she is. She is the only one who sees the progress of the ambulance men, with their grey bag on a stretcher. She is the only one looking while they lift it into the coroner's van. Her eyes watch the second bag make the same grizzly journey._

_Then they turn back to the forest, still as expressionless as ever._

* * *

Philadelphia 2007

"What's up, Boss?" Lilly Rush asked stepping out of the car. The scene was one of organised chaos. Lieutenant Stillman was kneeling by a large hole in the ground, but he got to his feet at the greeting.

"New owner wants to put in a hot tub. Workers were cutting the ground, found this." He led them over to the hole.

Reverently tended by the CSIs, a skeleton gazed up at them through empty sockets, large yellow beads lining the ribs.

"Love beads?" Kat Miller had joined the others by the grave. "This guy from the sixties?"

"You guys ever hear of Mike Eagle?"

They shook their heads.

"Guy was chief suspect in a double homicide back in '76."

"Suicide?" Kat asked.

Frannie Ching rolled her eyes.

"Not unless a guy can stab himself in the back." She said. She pointed to a rusty blade sticking out through the ribs.

"Any idea as to time of death?" Kat asked.

Frannie shook her head.

"So," Lilly asked. "Who killed him?"

_(Cue intro)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

"Mike Eagle, aged 21, reported missing 13th August 1976, by his girlfriend."

"Says here the initial theory was that he'd run off with a girl." Lilly was reading from the file. Stillman nodded.

"Josephine Ellens, known as Jodie." Will Jeffries had joined them, along with Nick Vera. Both carried huge white boxes with details of the cases written on them. "Theory kind of fell through when they found her body, along with her boyfriend, Doug Adams, on 15th August. Both had been stabbed."

"Listen to this." Kat Miller had extracted a file from the box marked Ellen, J. "Jodie had been Mike's girlfriend up until spring of that year. Then she started dating Doug, his best friend."

"Real kick in the shins." Vera observed, reading Doug's file.

"Yeah, but get this." Scotty had extracted the file from Miller. "The night before Mike vanished, his girlfriend, Sarah Shalon, admits to kissing Doug."

"Cops' theory at the time was revenge. Even put Sarah in protective custody for a while. No sign of him."  
"Huh." Lily observed, lifting a photo of a young man with long black hair and eyes the same color of the red wood guitar that he was strumming.

* * *

Sarah Shalon came out of her studio, wiping her hands on an old towel, covered in clay stains. For an instant the detectives could see the 18 year old Sarah, as she had been that summer, dressed in cut off jeans and a blue T-shirt. But as she sat down, the mature woman, blonde hair cut short, but with the same unflappability, appeared.

"I've always felt guilty about that kiss." She admitted. "It was a onetime thing… Mike and I were going through a rough patch and Doug was there, and he'd been so sweet..." she trailed off.

"And Mike found out about it?" Scotty asked.

Sarah sighed, raking her fingers through her short blonde hair, dredging up memories of the past, of complicated feelings.

"I told him." she admitted. "Matt's little sister, Jess, she walked in on us. It was only matter of time before she told Matt or Roxanne and one of them told Mike or Jodie."

"How'd he take it?"

"I thought," Sarah admitted, calmly, "That he took it well. I mean obviously he was upset, but he agreed to try and work it out." She sighed sadly, forehead creasing into a frown. "But I think we both knew it was over. When he went missing, at first I thought he'd gone home, especially after the fight."  
"What fight?" Lilly asked, catching the scent of _something. _

Sarah moved over to a sink and began to wash her hands.

"It was nothing." She said firmly, but less convincingly than she thought. "Everyone was hot, tempers were short."  
"Let us be the judge of that." Valens suggested.

Sarah sat down, apparently resigned.  
"It was the night he vanished..."

* * *

_Arms of Mary (Sutherland Brothers and Quiver)_

_The sun's set, barely an hour ago, behind the hills, thought it makes very little difference to the heat._

_Sarah lies, her head resting on Mike's shoulder in the Hotel lounge._

_All the curtains and the windows are open, but the night is completely still. They echo that stillness, lying together like a conjoined statue, barely even moving as they breathe._

_Suddenly, in the hall outside, sounds of doors banging and voices raised in anger can be heard. Sarah pulls herself up into a sitting position as the door bursts open._

_Matt strides in, his face red and furious._

"_Where is it?"_

"_What?" Mike asks, still lounging on the sofa, regarding Matt from under his dark eyelashes._

"_Don't play dumb, you son of a..."  
"Matt!" Roxanne comes in behind him, with a red eyed Jess following her. Doug walks through the door at the other end, with Jodie on his arm. They stand, frozen, for a second. Then, in a small, unwavering voice, Roxanne speaks quietly._

"_Charlie's knife has gone from mine and Jess' room." _

"_Haven't seen it." Mike says quickly._

"_You bastard..." Matt leaps forward, but Doug grabs him before he can do any harm. Mike is still yelling, regardless._

"_It wasn't enough that you took his girl, now you take his-"_

"_I didn't take anything from your psycho brother." Mike cuts through, the words trembling in the room._

_The room falls deadly silent. Jess has gone chalk white, and her fingers grip the edge of the nearest settee. Roxanne stands, trembling, while Doug releases Matt. Matt stands stock still._

"_Get out!" He says, his voice full of quiet anger. Jess shudders. Her brother scares her like this. So collected, and yet so furious… "OUT!" he yells as Mike is too slow to move._

_As Mike passes him, Matt grabs his arm, and hisses in a voice quite unlike his own:  
"If you ever come near me again, swear to god, I'll kill you!"  
He releases Mike, who walks to the door. Sarah regards the whole thing with a blank face, void of any emotion. _

_

* * *

"Matt's a sweet guy, but heaven help you if he loses his temper." Sarah finished calmly. She had spoken of the whole affair like it had happened to someone else. It was that which made Scotty ask the next question, hoping to get a rise out of her._

"Who was Charlie?"

Something changed in her eyes. Sarah got to her feet and began fiddling with the cups that lined her studio flat's walls.

"Charlie was Matt's brother." She said firmly.

"And your ex." It was wild stab in the dark on Lilly's part, but it brought a flash of color to Sarah's cheeks.  
"Yeah." She said, turning back to face them, somehow defiant. "It's not something I'm proud of. Charlie was a Vietnam vet. He was suffering from what I suppose was Post Traumatic Stress disorder." She sighed. "We broke up, and three months later, Charlie shot himself." She sighed, almost irritated. "Matt blamed me."

She sighed again.

"The knife they were talking about," Lilly asked. "Is this it?"

She held out a photo of the blade recovered from Mike's body, cleaned and restored by CSIs.

Sarah shrugged, barely glancing at the photo.  
"It might be. I never looked at it that closely, to be honest."

"And these?" Scotty held out the photo of the love beads.

Sarah shook her head.

"Sorry. Don't recognize them."

"Well, thank you for your time." Lilly and Scotty got to their feet. As they were about to leave Sarah called back.

"Hey! Look, Matt's a sweet guy. He was just under a lot of stress back then."

"Question is," Lilly observed, once they were out in the cold. "What did that stress make him do?"

* * *

"I'll admit… I over reacted about the knife." Matt Spider straightened out as he folded away a chair.

The church hall was full of them, along with posters advertising support groups from AA to the families of suicide victims, which had just finished.

"I was angry at the world back then. It's not uncommon after the suicide of a loved one."

He picked up another chair and folded it keeping his head down. He was taller now, but as he spoke the 18 year old from 1976 could be seen.

"They wouldn't recognize Post Traumatic Stress till 1978. When Charlie woke up every night screaming, they said he was nuts. When he kept breaking promises to Jess and to me, they called him a flake, and when he ultimately took my dad's old colt and blew his brains out, they called him a coward!" the bitterness was still present in his voice despite the time that had passed.

"To be honest, I took Jess with me that summer to protect her. My baby sister kept coming home with bruises all over her; I knew she kept getting into fights." He sighed. "Jess was smarter than I ever was. She knew Charlie wasn't a coward." He lifted his gaze to Jeffries and Vera.

"If Mike and I had met that night after the argument, I'd have killed him. But I'd have done it with my bare hands and I'd have admitted it. But," he put the chair back on the rack. "As I told the cops back in '76… that night was the last time I saw him."

"The fight was about a knife belonging to your brother?" Will asked.

Matt nodded.

"Charlie's knife, yeah."

"This it?" Nick handed the photo over. Matt looked over it.

"Looks like it. You'd have to ask Jess to be sure, Charlie left it to her."

"Bit of a strange gift for a fourteen year old." Will said. Matt smiled drily.

"Charlie was Jess's hero. There was 7 years between Charlie and me, then 4 between Jess and me." he shrugged, noticing the surprise on their faces. "My father was a Korean War Vet. Charlie was born before he left; I was born after he returned. I was her big brother. The one who teased her, the one who scribbled on her dolls. Charlie was her hero. Her grown up brother. Her protector." He sighed. "But at the time, I shared your opinion."

* * *

_Here Comes the Sun ( __Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel__)_

"_I hate unpacking." Roxanne says, straightening up._

"_So why did you volunteer to do Jess's?" Matt asks, smiling up from the bed where he lay next to the open suitcase. Roxanne to him is the most beautiful girl in the world, especially now._

"_Because..." she begins, but stopps as he catches her in a kiss, a belated apology for his earlier behavior._

"_Hey." Jess is sitting on the second bed, regarding her big brother and his girl friend with amusement, "Under 18 in the room."_

_Roxanne and Matt break apart good naturedly. _

_Matt ruffles his little sister's hair._

"_You're a real pain you know?"  
"Why else did Mom let me come?"_

"_Knock. Knock." The door opens and Jodie, Doug, Mike and Sarah enter. They sit for a few minutes talking and discussing their plans, while Roxanne continues unpacking._

"_Aah!" Roxanne says, suddenly straightening up.  
"What?" Mike demands, leaning over to look in Jess's case._

"_Nothing!" Roxanne begins, but she's too late._

"_Hey cool." He grabs a long, green handled knife with a black sheath from the case. Roxanne's eyes remain on Matt, who crosses over in two seconds. He reaches into the case, pulling aside T-Shirts and shorts to reveal 3 framed photos. One shows three children in a garden. Another shows a family group. A third is of a young man in uniform._

_Matt stands stock still for a few moments, trembling._

_Then he slowly raises his head to look at Jess._

"_Did you pack this?"  
"Matt." Roxanne begins, reaching out for him, but he shakes her off._

"_Did you?"  
"Yes." Jess's voice is so soft that they can hardly hear her.  
"Why?" Matt's voice is full of raw emotion. _

"_Because," Jess says, lifting her head, her voice unnaturally calm. "He was my big brother. And I'm not going to pretend that he didn't exist. Like everyone else seems to be determined to do!"_

_As Matt stares at his little sister, shaking his head, he notices Mike slip something in his pocket._

_

* * *

"Say this for my little sister; she can be as stubborn as a mule when she chooses to be." He shook his head. "It was lucky she had taken them as it turned out. When we got home my mum had destroyed all our photos of both Charlie and my dad"  
"You say you saw Mike slip something into his pocket?" Will asked, consulting his notebook._

"Think I did." Matt corrected him.

"Anyone report anything missing?"

"Not as far as I know." Matt said slowly, after a moment's pause.

It was obvious that neither detective believed him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

"Mike Eagle?" the fourteen year old Jess Spider led the way to her office at the college. As she passed behind a pillar, the fourteen year old vanished.

Jess Spider had grown up tall. Her hair was so dark, it was almost black, and hung loosely over her mint green suit and collarless blouse. She indicated the chairs in front of her desk, and balanced on it.

"That's a real blast from the past." She sighed. "I'll admit when I heard about the plans for that Hotel, a part of me was hoping the owner would demolish it."  
"Not a lot of good memories?" Lily asked as she sat down.

"Not a lot of bad one either." She sighed. "It was a bad period of my life. My Brother was dead, my parents were separating, and my other brother was forced to take me on holiday with him." She shook her head. "Initially it was supposed to be the six of them, a treat before college started in the fall. But with everything that was happening, Matt felt that I needed out of the house."

"So you didn't really know any of them?" Scotty asked, uncertainly.

"I knew them as my brother's friends, but that one was the first time I met them properly." Her face creased. "I didn't know what to make of them. Just had instincts." She shook her head and for a moment the child of 14, in cut off jeans and a white T-shirt. "Matt was miserable. He likes putting people back together and doesn't like it when he can't. Roxanne was tense and unhappy. I don't think either of them noticed anything that was going on."

"What was going on?" Lily asked. The fourteen year old chewed her lip.

"Something bad."

*

_Young hearts run free_

_They've pulled a few logs into the shade of the trees to act as benches. Jess sits on the grass, though as its cooler. Matt and Roxanne sit near her holding hands. They're gazing into each others eyes in a way she hadn't seen them do in a long time._

_She looks away._

_Mike is playing a beautiful redwood guitar, but the music seems monotonous like the stuff that her father used to listen to._

_Sarah wasn't enjoying it either. Her eyes keep darting between Matt and Roxanne and Jodie and Doug. Jess glances at Mike, but his eyes are closed, like he's lost in the music._

_A soft giggle brings her attention to Jodie and Doug. His arm is around her shoulders and he's whispering in her ear. She was laughing and trying to push him away from her playfully at the same time. Eventually she nods and they walk off into the forest._

_Jess doesn't know why, but she glances at Sarah. She wishes she hadn't. Sarah's staring at the spot in the wood where they vanished. Her face is a mask of fury and pain, so intense that it's scares her. She watches as it changes. _

_The jaw tightens, the eyes narrows, the fists at her sides clench. Anger and hatred ring out from every pore, until they're was no pity or pain._

_She glances away, looking desperately in case anyone else had seen. But Mike's eyes were still closed, and Roxanne and Matt still are looking at each other._

_When she looks back, Sarah looks normal. The mask is back in place._

_Despite of the heat, Jess shivers._

_*_

"Sarah's always reminded me of a Sultana. The type of woman who'd have her lover thrown from the highest tower and not caring." She shook her head. "At the same time, I think Jodie was doing it to manipulate her. She knew she was losing Doug and knew that Roxanne would never leave Matt. Jodie was the type who always needed a man to make her feel good." Somewhere in the depths of the college a bell rang. Jess got to her feet.  
"I've got to go."

"Well call us, if you remember anything." Lilly held out a card, which Jess took and glanced at, before consigning it to the recesses of her bag.

"Thanks." She said, as she left.

"Sarah said it was a mistake, a one time thing." Scotty said, as they walked out.

Scotty shook his head. "Doesn't sound like it."

*

"Roxanne Spider?"

The dark haired woman, dressed in a smart black business suit, straightened up from her black attaché case. For an instant, the eighteen year old, dressed in brown shorts and grubby white T-shirt, stared at them.

"Yes?"

"Detectives Jeffrey's and Miller. Homicide. We'd like to talk about Mike Eagle."

Roxanne glanced at her watch. "I've got ten minutes till my next client."

"This won't take long."

She nodded, and led the way to her office. Once the door was closed, she sighed and turned to face them.

"This is about my statement isn't it?"

When they made no definite reply, she continued.

"I know I said I was sure, but it is possible I was mistaken." She shook her head. "It sounds silly, but Jodie and Sarah's hair is almost the same color, especially that summer."

At Kat's curious expression, she hastened to explain. "That summer was the one of hottest on record. The sun was beating down daily, making everyone irritable. In Britain there were riots over the cricket. When we first reported Mike missing, the police couldn't get to us for days. They were too busy fighting fires."

*

_Knowing me, Knowing you ABBA_

_The sky glimpsed through the windows is grey. The thunder rumbles in the distance, but the rain has yet to arrive._

_Roxanne pushes open the door to eh main lounge, Jess trailing behind her. She can't say she's sorry about the decision to leave early. This has not been a good trip._

_The lounge should be empty, Matt's on the phone to his mother, to let her know they'll be back and Sarah's in the shower. So there's no one else in the house, except for..._

"_Doug?"_

_He lifts his head, indigo eyes reddened._

"_Oh. Hi."_

"_You O.K?" Instantly she regrets the question, because of course he's not. None of them are._

"_I...just can't believe Jodie would take off with out telling me."_

"_It's weird isn't it?" jess says, sinking on to the floor. "First Mike, then Jodie..." she trails off at the expression on Doug's face. She looks genuinely afraid, and Roxanne can't honestly say she blames her. There's something in Doug's face that she's never seen before and she doesn't like it. Sarah comes in at that moment, her hair still wet from the shower._

_They sit in silence for a few moments, before Doug swears._

"_This is ridiculous!" _

"_Where are you going?" Roxanne demanded, as Doug gets to his feet._

"_To find them."  
"They might have left the grounds." Jess points out, still unsure, still scared._

"_They can't have. We'd have found evidence." He's gone before Roxanne can point off that while they have walked to the main road, there's about a million tracks and trails they haven't checked._

"_Why does he have to be such an idiot?" demanded Roxanne of the air._

"_Because he loves her." Jess says it, like it's an easy answer. Sarah stiffens._

"_The storms getting closer." Sarah says softly.  
"I'll get Matt. Maybe he can talk him out of it." She says this more to escape the uncomfortable atmosphere of the room than out of any real concern for Doug's well being._

_As she gets to her feet, a huge clap over their heads makes them all jump._

_Rapidly she climbs up the stairs, trying to ignore the pebble hitting sounds of the rain against the windows in the darken hall._

_Suddenly a flash of lightening lights up the whole room. Spinning around in shock, she can see two figures through the rain smeared windows. _

_One of them wears a blue oil skin, and is probably male. The other is a woman, with blonde hair._

_*_

"At the time, I accepted with out asking that they were Doug and Jodie."

"But now?"

"It's possible... that they were...."  
"Don't say another word Roxanne!" A small grey haired woman was standing in the doorway. "They can't prove a thing. Not after all this time."

"But Mom..."  
"I think Mrs. Spider," Kat said, softly. "You'd better have a talk with us."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

"It was all my fault, of course."

Mrs. Spider looked even smaller in the interview room than she had at the hospital. She had refused a lawyer, accepted a cup of coffee, and was now sat staring into it.

"But you weren't there, when Mike was killed."

"Of Course not." She snapped, lifting her head to gaze at him with exhausted eyes that were the same color as Jess, but faded as though they had been left in the sun for two long. "But if I'd have been stronger, If I'd have had the courage to leave Bill sooner," she swallowed. "Maybe they'd both still be alive...

* * *

_**Green Fields of France Eric Bogle**_

_She sees the study light as she was heading upstairs. She knows that her husband, soon to be her ex-husband, mind you, is out; there is only one person who it could be._

_The door opens silently. _

"_Don't you think," She asks the outline at the door, "that you've had enough?"_

"_No." The misery and the pain in that one syllable actually hurts her. She nods stiffly._

"_I saw Sarah earlier." The words are out before she can stop them, but she has to know. To be sure what she is doing is right._

"_So?"_

"_Care to explain how she got that black eye?"_

_The outline stands up. Charlie is taller than his brother, with her features, like Jess. But Jess has her eyes, the bluey green stars that speak of their Scottish ancestry. Charlie's eyes are ice blue, like her husband's._

_At that moment, as he towers over her, the similarities have never been clearer._

"_What are you saying?"_

_A life time under those blue eyes starts her backing up, trying to get away. But a mother's love makes her stay._

"_I'm trying to help you, Charlie. Please," she adds, as he heads for the whiskey bottle. "You're hurting everyone, including yourself. You're becoming just like..."  
the eyes that fix on her are dangerous, and her heart flees to her mouth, stopping her from saying anymore._

"_Say it!" the voice snarls, so close to his father's that she is forced to obey. _

"_Just like your father."_

_A life time of dodging blows means that the glass misses her head by inches. She can't help it. She flees from her own son._

_

* * *

_

"But Charlie and Sarah had broken up." Kat said, confused.

Mrs. Spider nodded. "Nearly two weeks before we had that conversation." She shook her head. "I should have realized it, but Charlie was acting so strange." She lifted her eyes to look at the Detectives. "My husband beat me every night of our marriage, ever since he got back from Korea. I thought... I thought that history was repeating it's self."

She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I was a fool."

"You think that Mike was violent towards Sarah?" Vera asked, uncertainly.

Mrs. Spider nodded. "And they killed him for it."

"Who?"

Mrs. Spider's expression had changed. "You're the detective!" she said, vigorously. "You figure it out."

* * *

Jess was sitting on a bench in the park. A scruffy black and white mongrel ran towards her, a ball clasped in his mouth.

She looked at as Lily and Scotty approached.

"I've been waiting for you."

Scotty nodded. "We spoke to Roxanne." He said softly. "She said you had something to tell us."

Jess nodded.

"Children are strange creatures aren't they?" she said, throwing the ball again. "When they see something that scares them, they'll keep quiet about it, no matter what."

Scotty nodded.

"You saw something?"  
Jess shook her head.

"Heard something."

* * *

_Carolina in my mind James Taylor_

_She has to find that knife. Matt might claim that he didn't care, but if she loses Charlie's knife after the fight she'd had to keep it..._

_Mike and Doug's room is just across from hers and Roxanne's, next door to Matt's. _

_The boys are out at the swimming hole, and the girls are on a hike. Each thinks she is with the others, so if she's careful, she can find the knife, and join up with the girls as they get back, and no one will know she's gone._

_Carefully she kneels down beside the white over cover of the bedspread and lifted sheet. On her hands and knees, she crawls under._

_Nothing! Only dust and the carpet. But she is so sure that Mike has it. She is about to pull herself out, when she hears the door open._

"_...Need to talk about last night." Doug's voice. And Sarah's answering. The girls must have got back earlier._

"_I'm sorry Doug, but I can't talk about it now."_

"_But Sarah! Oh, Hi Mike."_

_Pleasantries were exchanged. Jess isn't sure why, but something has changed in the room, like when her father came home from the pub. She doesn't know the name for the feeling, but she shuffles back further under the bed, and fights to stop the shivering, as she hears the door close and Doug leave._

"_Where were you last night?" Mike's voice; harsh and demanding and painful._

"_I told you I went for a bathe."_

"_That's all?"_

"_No." She can hear her mother in Sarah's voice, one whose given up, who isn't' even trying to fight anymore. "Doug was there too."_

"_Why didn't you tell me?" Her father would have yelled, but Mike sounds so reasonable that in a way it's worse._

"_I guess I thought you might be...angry."_

"_Why should I be angry?" Mike's voice asks. "You're just friends." It is an order rather than a suggestion._

"_Of course." Jess can hear the panic in Sarah's voice._

"_You like me more than him, don't you?"_

"_Yes, of course."_

"_100%?"_

_She can't see Sarah, but she knew she would be nodding._

_

* * *

_

"So much for Mike being O.K. with it." Scotty muttered. Jess nodded.

"I doubt he even knew."

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

"You lied to us, Sarah."

The face was calm, but the eyes darted about the room.

"No, I didn't."

"Really?" Nick asked, sinking into the chair. "'cos you told us that Matt knew about the kiss, that he was fine with it."

"He was." The lie rolled easily off her tongue, as it had for thirty years.

"Really?" Nick again. "Cos we've got a witness who says differently."

"Then they're lying." There was no really passion in her voice.

"We know that Mike was violent towards you." Kat said, softly walking over. "Courts are understanding."

Sarah's eyes hardened.

"Everyone thought that I was the villain, Charlie was the victim and Mike was the guy caught in the middle." She snorted. "They had no idea..."

* * *

"Mike was hurting Sarah?" Matt repeated, heading back to the table with a beer. He shook his head.

"That explains a lot."

"You didn't know?" Scotty asked. They had called around to talk about their mother's revelations with Matt and Roxanne and found them eating Chinese with Jess.

Matt and Roxanne shook their heads.

"She wore more clothes than the rest of us did during that summer," Roxanne volunteered, "But I thought, we all did, that she was trying to change Matt's opinion of her."

"I called her a two bit whore at the funeral," Matt explained, looking sheepish.

"That must have been what she was talking about." Jess muttered, suddenly. She had been sitting gazing into her chicken and sweet corn soup, since they had arrived and hadn't said a word.

"Who was?" Lily asked.

Jess lifted her head to look at them. "Sarah..."

* * *

_You Got a Friend James Taylor and Carole King_

_It's too hot to sleep. _

_There's no moon tonight, and Roxanne has a headache. She says it means a storm is brewing, and Jess wishes it would hurry up. _

_Groaning softly, she pulls herself off the bed, the sheets sticking to her back. It's no use, she can't sleep. Maybe it's cooler outside._

_Glancing at the clock, it has just gone 3 am, she pulls on her pants._

_The diving hole is cooler, not much cooler, but it is better than their room. _

_But she isn't alone. _

_Sarah stands there, gazing softly across the water._

"_Oh. Hey Sarah."_

_Sarah turns to face her. It's too dark for her to see Sarah's face clearly, but she can see the tears reflecting the light._

"_Hey, Jess." She whispers softly. _

"_Everything O.K.?" Jess asks, sitting down on the grass._

_Sarah's blonde mane shakes from side to side._

"_I've been a fool!"_

"_We all have." Jess says, confusion colouring her voice. "It's not your mistakes that matter; it's what you do to put them right."_

_Sarah turns, smiling through her tears._

"_Did Charlie tell you that?" _

_As Jess nods, Sarah's smile broadens._

"_O.K." she says, with resolution in her voice. "O.k." _

_She lifts a necklace of large beads and drops them into the lake._

"_Come on." She says softly, "let's get back to bed."_

_Jess follows, more confused than ever._

_

* * *

_

"You'd no idea what she was talking about?" Scotty asked. Jess shook her head.

"Not back then, no."

"Did she say anything else, anything after the disappearance?" Scotty asked again.

Jesse lifted her head.

"Just that Charlie said he'd always protect her." She looked at Scotty. "First time, I learnt that Sarah didn't break up with Charlie, that it was the other way around."

* * *

Sarah's eyes gazed back at them.

"You don't know the half of what Mike was capable of..."

* * *

"_Doug, Doug. Wait up." The rain falls, soaking her, as the blonde figure gets further and further away. Eventually she reaches him, grabbing at his sleeve. He spins around._

"_Look Sarah, I told you. I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea, but..."_

"_Doug, Listen to me, Jodie's with Mike."_

_Doug snorts, looking at her like she's gone insane. _

"_They broke up. She'd never go back to him."_

"_She didn't. At least."_

_A flash of lightening lights up the lake, its surface pitted with rain drops. In the shallows lay a body._

"_Jodie? Jodie!" Doug runs forward._

"_Wait!" Sarah screams desperately. "You have to listen..."_

_Doug knelt down in the water by Jodie's lifeless body. Sarah edges forward, her heart pounding with fear._

_Lightening flashes overhead and Doug looks up to see a dark silhouette with a knife._

_Sarah shuts her eyes, but she can't shut out the hideous scream that echoes around the clearing. Only when it dies down does she dare peek out through her fingers._

"_You shouldn't have betrayed me, Sarah." Says Mike._

_

* * *

_

Both detectives had sat down and Kat gently extended her hand across the table to touch Sarah's.

"Sarah," she said, as though she was speaking to her daughter. "Who killed Mike?"

Sarah raised huge unseeing eyes to them.

"It was… Charlie… Charlie who killed Mike." She said, softly. "He swore he'd always protect me."

* * *

_Crash! The thunder booms overhead, followed seconds later by the lightening._

_She runs desperately, slipping and sliding over the wet ground. She can hear Mike following her._

_He knows these woods. Jodie must have brought him here when they were dating._

_Suddenly the ground opens beneath her and she falls into a deep pit. She remembers Jodie telling them of the new owners' plans to build a swimming pool. She struggles, trying to yank herself out of the pit, as the footsteps get closer and closer._

_She can see Mike towering over her on the edge of the pit, the knife held aloft, laughing at her._

_Lightening flashes and the sides of the pit crumble. Sarah finally manages to get a grip and pulls herself up, as Mike falls forward, the knife tumbling from his hands._

_It falls in an arc, the blade pointing upwards._

_She shuts her eyes as the sickening sound of steel pitting into flesh rings out._

_Charlie has always said that that knife was the nearest thing he had to a best friend._

_Glancing down she can see him lying there, but only for a few seconds, before the pit closes in, blocking the body from view._

_Turning, she starts to run back to the house._

* * *

(Hotel California the Eagles)

Nick holds the door open, as Sarah gets to her feet. She gazes briefly in the mirror, seeing Mike reflected there. For an instant it is an 18 year old Sarah who meets his gaze. But then she turns and walks away from him, free at last.

Jess walks up to her home. The mongrel dog runs out to greet her. As she bends down to greet him, the fourteen year old Jess begins fussing over him. But as she straightens up, grown up Jess smiles at the world.

In his father's study, Matt stands over a box. He reaches in and draws out a silver framed photo. Carefully he hangs it on the wall and steps back.

The 18 year old Matt stares proudly at the photo. Turning, he sees Charlie grinning at him from the desk. His mother, looking like she did, all those years, opens the door and smiles to see them both. Matt and his mother embrace, as Charlie smiles at them, before fading away. Matt and Mrs. Spider stay in the hug as they return to their true age.

Nick and Will carry the boxes down to the basement. Proudly they write CLOSED On all three of them.

Roxanne and Lily walk in the grounds of new Arcadia. Slowly they make their way down to the lake.

Standing in the clearing, they can see Doug and Jodie. Doug has his arm around her, and both are grinning and waving. For an instant it is the eighteen year old Roxanne who returns their waves, before fading from sight.

The End

A.N. sorry for the delay, people, I went home for summer, and my computer there wouln't support this format. Hope you enjoyed this.


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